I’ve based my choice on a few things, but mostly on a) if the song made an everlasting effect on me (I do listen to it now and then still, or I put it on whenever I’m at a party with Kpop-tolerant friends, or it’s in my all time favorite, something like that), b) the overall popularity of the song and how it was omnipresent for the moment it was release to the end of the year, c) how it somewhat did Kpop exactly how it’s suppose to be done or how it still is Kpop but it tried to give a twist that worked amazingly well.
I also limited myself to 10 tracks this time around.

So here is my top 10 for 2014 :

10. Jun Hyo Seong – Good-night Kiss
I chose this song for the last spot mainly because, even though after a while, I kinda started to grow tired of it. But every time I let the song go on, I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to dance to the chorus. Somehow, I also created some dance move in my mind that I was sure were part of the actual dance. I also like this fierce attitude and the overall more sexy look for Jun Hyo Seong.

9. Hi Suhyun – I’m Different (feat. Bobby)
Even though this song just came up a few weeks ago, I really feel like they nailed something with it. The jazz and soul combo is great and the MV is also really beautiful. I’m ok with Bobby’s part even though it would still have been great without it. I like that, even though it’s still pop, they did some experiment with it and it came out like this. I hope this track and how good it did in the charts and with the fans make the industry take more risk with their song, more than just mashing pop with rap all the time or different tempo in one same song.

8. Akdong Musician – Melted
Do I have to explain why this song is in here, really? If you have not seen the MV, go watch it right now. Because they went all in for this one and it’s really in synch with the song. The background music is astonishing, the verse, the bridge, the chorus, everything is perfect. Even though it’s not a song you would expect from AKMU, I think they did a great job and I even like the fact that it’s not just about sobbing all the way till the end. There’s still some quirky twist in the verse, in the way they sing it. A great ballad, but they didn’t forget to put in some of their individuality.

7. Bangtan Boys – Boys In Luv
I have something to confess : I’m not a Bangtan Boys fan. At all. I think I’m closer to being an EXO fan than being a BTS fan. Even though it took time to get use to it, the chorus took me away. I still listen to this song and every time, I feel like krumping my ass off. But let’s be clear here, it’s only because of the bridge and the chorus. Those verse are not that great. I seriously have no idea if, other than the fans, the song did any good on charts and what not, but it really was a song that I listened to the whole year and that I still pop in for a good run.

6. AOA – Like a Cat
I wasn’t so sure about this one, but after a few times, I had the song stuck in my head. For a long long while. And maybe it stuck with me more because one time, I really wanted to listen to it but I didn’t have it in my Ipod and I was listening to Tablo’s radio show, and he put it on, and I was like “WE ARE ONE MIND!!!!!!”. At the same time, I feel like AOA always been cute little girls, a group that was more about the looks and they didn’t really have a big hit to secure their place in their field, but I feel they actually did that this time.

5. KARA – Mamma Mia
There’s many people who think this song is the song of all songs. I think part of them are just hardcore fans, and others are almost right. It’s a great song indeed. I feel like the exposure it got because of the Young Ji fever help the song a lot also. But I was caught by that fever too, and I liked it. I got mesmerized by the “lapapa lapapa” and the dance. Every time the chorus comes up, I wanna dance along to it.

4. Sunmi – Full Moon (feat. Lena)
Oh the controversial choreography… Anyway, the way it was banned gave it a big boost for its popularity, but still, without that “scandal”, I think it would still have done well. I’m not 100% behind the MV concept, because I think paranormal/vampire stuff as to be done perfectly or else it kinda falls out a bit. And this one kinda do (falls out I mean) here and there. But the song is nice and I even like Lena’s part. I also really enjoy the dance, I thought it was inventive and different. Now and then, you come across a song where there’s some kind of singing sound that isn’t words but that get imprinted in your mind and that you cannot pull out of there. This song does that. The “hey hey hey hey hey” stuck with me.

3. SoYu, JunggiGo – Some (feat. Lil Boi of Geeks)
If you don’t know that song, I wonder where you were in 2014. Because it was everywhere. In about every drama there was, in every variety show there is. And it kinda shifted the Hyorin spotlight to Soyu, who also has a really great voice. It re-put JunggiGo on the map as well. The chorus is super catchy and whenever it pop up somewhere, I had this warm feeling of “hey, it’s that song again!”. To me, this song is, along Eyes, Nose, Lips, one of the most memorable songs of 2014.

2. Gain – Fxxk U (feat. Bumkey)
I like Gain and her MVs that deal with taboo matters. She always amazes me. Fxxk U is a great song, mainly because the beat is “happy”, for a lack of better word, yet it feels cathartic to throw those “Fxxk U” in the air while listening to it. I wouldn’t say it’s a song that will be remembered by all, but it will be me and my friends. We always put it on whenever we listen to some Kpop song. Also, with the ever-growing and omnipresent rape culture in every society, I feel like the MV is right on point. On top of that, there’s something about Gain that is different from the industry she evolves in. So for all those reasons, I think she deserve a high rank in my top 10.

and

1. Taeyang – Eyes, Nose, Lips
Yeah, you might already knew I would choose this one for first place. I’m still trying to learn the song, I’m around the chorus. I already know the first verse and the bridge by heart so I would say I’m about half way there, or close to it. And to think I didn’t instantly fell in love with this song is crazy. To me, it was the “home run” song of 2014. Some would say that was Up and Down by EXID, but there’s a difference between viral and greatness. If you’re still not convince, give me another song that had a cover project that many other singers joined just weeks after its release on top of it.

WHY NO [insert group/artist name here]?????!!!!!
I though about maybe adding I Swear from Sistar, but to me, even to I liked it very much, the other 10 were more fit to my criteria. Some people might wonder why I didn’t put any 2NE1 track in it, and here’s why : even though Come Back Home is a great song, I don’t really listen to it anymore. Their album was a great album overall, but the few title track were not as memorable as some other they did in the past. I prefer lesser known track on the album, like the Korean version of Scream or even the ballad version (or is it acoustic, I don’t remember) of Come Back Home. So that’s how it is. Other than that, SNSD didn’t do it for me this year. As for T-ARA, even though they had Little Apple that I liked very much, I wasn’t taken as much by it. Maybe because I felt like a) it wasn’t entirely a T-ARA song, b) the MV made me feel like it was a sub-unit song even though it’s not advertised that way. So I had some issue with putting it in the top 10 over others. VIXX didn’t have that great of a year overall. And for EXO, well, I’m sure everyone out there gave them enough praise for Overdose already. I like the song, but it was no Growl. And don’t even get me started on SUJU, because I will cut you. Seriously.

Not much to say about this one. Green Nocturne is good, as most of Nell’s songs, but it’s not there best either. It’s still quite enjoyable, and I like listening to it while waking up, eating breakfast on a Sunday morning. It’s about a man thinking about his past and things like that if I remember correctly.

There’s some other track that are okay, like 28.5, My Angel or The End. But they’re not good enough to say “I’ll have them stuck in my head one day” or “I’ll listen to them regularly”

So this time around , I’ve started the playlist with something more smooth. I had a bit of a hard time (like about every time I do these playlist hehe) because there wasn’t such a big range of different beat somehow. I hope it turns out well anyway.

Here are the few songs I’ve been listening too A LOT more than the others one. Sure, I, I Love You, of course, since it was featured in my BTSSB section. I really like Baby Oh Baby, I think because of the chorus. I like its groovy R&B bedroom vibe. Every Clazziquai songs I’ve been listening too from their future new album as been a great musical blessing so far.

Even though I’ve put them way down below, you should check out the more unknown songs I’ve put there. First there’s this bubbly cute song Curious About You, which is great in many level and I’m actually astonished I haven’t heard more people talk about it. Then there’s Kim Su Bin song that captured me right away even though it’s ballad. There’s something about the melody of her voice, but I cannot find words to describe it. Finally, there’s Cherry Blossom from Rainbow99. This song made me browse around the indie scene a lot more this month and I’ve found great new band that I’ll follow from now on. Sure, it’s instrumental and far away from most of what I usually put in those playlist, but it’s sooooo pretty and peaceful, and I do listen to instrumental peaceful stuff a lot now and then so I was really happy to find this song. I’ve listen to a few other songs of his album (“Seoul”) and it’s a bit more intense, not really my taste. But if you like industrial stuff, you should check it out.

Finally, on another note, I’m happy with the latest Baechigi song and the fact the featured a member of MAMAMOO. The thing is, I would really like they try to get out of this subgenre they’ve been in for the last few songs. I would love to see them get back to something just a bit more dark maybe. I have trouble with the vintage cabaret vibe the Korean music scene I’ve been going through this year and I really pray that 2015 will not linger in it too much.

I really love love love My Copycat. In my mind, it might be one of the best, if not the best Orange Caramel song. The saxophone sound is terribly catchy. The dance is quite simple but I really love it a lot too. It’s really a pick-me-up song and it’s great. I’m not that much into the MV, but it’s still fun.

I also like Mamma Mia. It might not be the best KARA song ever, but I still like it enough to not skip it whenever it comes in my playlist.

Danger is great too. I have trouble with his new look though, but the song is catchy.

I love The Promise, but yeah, I have a bit of a thing for Jay Park. It’s a really sweet song and the jazzy vibe is just right. The MV isn’t the greatest, but you know… most of the time, I’m not that much into Jay Park MVs, except for maybe Star, Joah and Welcome. I really like most of Jay Park’s sweeter song anyway.

I have a love/hate relationship with Sunny Hill. I usually don’t like their upbeat song that much, but I have a trouble with most ballads so it’s hard loving any of their song really. That said, I have a special place in my heart for Pray. Monday Blues might be the exception that confirm everything. It’s an upbeat song, but I kinda like it. It’s not the best song there is, but it’s fun enough to listen too and the MV is funny. That’s one thing I always liked about Sunny Hill : they always (or almost always) have really great MVs.

I have nothing to say about the new Bangtan Boys song. I’m not really that much into their style most of the time, except for the last one, Boys in Luv, and even then, I had to come back to it a few time before really falling in love with it. And even then, it’s mainly all because of the chorus. So Danger is not really my cup of tea, sorry.

I’ve tried to put somewhat of an order in the countdown, but it’s really not based on anything, except a bit on overall popularity and my own impression (about overall popularity and about the fact that either I’ve been listening to the song a lot during this summer or that I’m still listening to it now).

So here it is (and sorry about not posting as much this week, it was kind of a big week for me)

The runner up that almost made it : KARA – Damaged Lady
This song is like other KARA’s songs. It’s really catchy in a “you’ll have it as a earworm out of nowhere and won’t be able to find from whom this song is”. The catchiness of KARA is different since it’s subtle, but in a way, that makes it much more brilliant. The song is great. Everytime I here the chorus, I have a sudden urge to do the dancemove with the arm and stuff. But since it was release not so long ago and that it has a little less view than other video from this summer, I went for other song for the top 10.

10. INFINITE – Destiny
OK, hear me out : I really really like this song. As of now, I think it might even be the song of INFINITE I like the most. The thing is though, it didn’t do that well on any chart this summer and I feel like people forget about it faster than BATOOST’s Shadow (that was, in every point, inferior to Destiny). I think it has everything to do with the MV clusterfuck that happened because of the place scene. They release just one version of the video with all those part edited out and couldn’t release the drama version. So yeah. Even though the MV is not everything, it really help sometimes. Some really really mediocre song got much more popularity than they really deserve base only on the quality of the song because the MV was either entertaining or beautiful. That said, I still listen to this song and you could say it was there for a segment of this summer so that’s why it made #10.

9. G-Dragon – Crooked
I really like this song. BUT it’s not the best of G-Dragon, it’s no Crayon or That XX or even One Of A Kind (I kinda don’t like this one, but I’m trying to be a bit objective here). And it came out at the beginning of September. Personnally, even though I like it, I really feel it won’t have as long a life as the few other song I’ve just mentionned. It’s a lot better than the boring Coup d’État and the Michi-GO WTF though. But it’s still a good G-Dragon song, and G-Dragon’s song always are a bit better than all the crap we get throughtout the year.

8. Jay Park – I Like 2 Party
This one is a personnal choice since the song has roughly a million views though it was release in July. Ok, a million is big, but not that much compare to other songs and how they usually do and stuff. But it FUCKIN KICKS ASSES. And, as the last 2 Jay Park’s song that were release earlier this year, I’m totally in love with it. So yeah, it followed me all summer and I still listen to it and enjoy it as much. The MV is funky, though I prefer the one for JOAH and Welcome (this one for obvious reason).

7. Girl’s Day – Female President
I don’t know if this one is a more personnal choice, but I feel like this song was kinda really popular in Korea for a while and it has a lot of views too. This one was an instant like for me, just like Expectation. Girl’s Day is really coming out of is cuteness shell lately and I like it. It seems Korea like it too. I don’t know about international fans though. The MV is alright, I prefer the one for Expectation with THE dancemove and the (kinda boring) storyline. I really listen to this song a lot this summer, but at some point, I dropped it for newer songs. I didn’t really had time to get tired of it though and I still enjoy listening to it from time to time.

6. EXO – Growl
Why not higher? Because I’m not a fuckin EXO sasaeng! This song is good and the MV is really nicely done. I still listen to it and, obviously, it’s popular as hell. But, for me, there was so many other great song this summer. And some of them deserve more higher rank than this one. I wonder, if this song was not an EXO song, would it have 14 millions views? Maybe not. Don’t get me wrong, I really really really like it, really. But maybe it’s the sasaeng phenomenon aftershock, I’m always not as enthousiastic as I could be towards EXO because of the gigantic hype around them. Or maybe I’m just a child and it has something to do with reverse psychology…

5. Seungri – Gotta Talk To U
“Hey! You’ve just said about Crooked that it was release in September and stuff!” Yeah, so what? Gotta Talk To U is an awesome song. I just totally love it, a whole lot more than Crooked. A whole lot more than some of the song I put on higher ranks for some other reasons. So deal with it. The MV is not great, but who cares? The song is that good. For me, this song might even be it the Top 10 of 2013. Yeah, the whole freakin year.

4. Henry – Trap
I took me a while to like this song. I wasn’t sure because of the Bieber feel to it and I thought I might be tricked into liking something my principle would not allow me to like (a bit like the EXO feeling I got). But after I say Henry on variety shows, I was like “this guy is talented and funny (and kinda cute), so he’s legit”. Then I listen to the song, A LOT! He’s not an EXO member and his song has 10 millions views. Just that says a lot. Ok, you’ll say that there’s Taemin and the other dude and stuff, but seriously, I don’t mind, it’s still his song. I would have change the clothing and some of the dancemove in the MV though, maybe that’s a bit why I was suspicious at first. I mean, we’ve never seen that dude and he’s acting like he’s a freakin gansta and like he owns the place, and he’s not that good of an actor… it was too Bieber-ish for me… That said, for me, this is one of the songs that really marked this summer. It’s just such a fun song and I don’t know, it’s extremely catchy. I really like the bridge part with the high notes and Kyuhyun.

3. Sistar – Give It To Me
Some might not agree with me on this one, but seriously, it was immensely popular this summer. The official MV has more than 9 millions views, and the choregraphy alone has over 3 millions views (and it’s not an MV). For a girls group, it’s really really good (yeah, since girls group always have less views). At first, I thought it was great, but not as good as Alone. Wow, was I wrong! This song is just on a different level of awesomeness, that’s all. The MV is really beautiful and I feel like it showcase each girls (not equally, but at least, it made the effort to do so). I’m not really listening to it anymore, but that’s mainly because I listened to it ALL SUMMER LONG. At one point, in September, I was like : “okay that’s enough now”. That said, I still enjoy and like it a lot, it’s just I felt it was unfair to other song… somehow. (I know I’m weird)

2. Crayon Pop – Bar Bar Bar
If you still have to ask, where were you this summer? This song hasn’t as many views as other, but it was, by far one of THE songs of this summer. At first, I wasn’t sure because, well, it was like an UFO dropped in my computer. But the dance, man the dance… It’s so catchy I almost exploded. And it’s simple enough so that you can follow without being a natural born dancer. The song is good, it’s not the greatest song ever though. If they would have come up with the drama version of the MV first, I feel like it wouldn’t have been as popular. What makes this song is the dance MV. It’s just so quirky and fun. Anyway, you get my point. I know there’s 2 kind of people out there : the one that like it a lot and those who hate it. You cannot go in between with this. And well, I like it. And even if you hate it, you cannot deny that it was this summer song… That said, I don’t get the “r” in the title when the hangul title doesn’t have the ㄹ at the end of the words. Anyway.

and finally…

1. MBLAQ – Smoky Girl
Who can deny the awesomeness of this song? If you try, go check the MV again a few time please. This song is probably one of the greatest of this year. It took me about 3 or 4 times before I started liking it. The MV tricked me at first because I felt the intro was too slow and that the song took its time to really get upbeat and stuff. I still listen to it as of now, and I’m still super pumped when it starts to play on my Ipod. I still want to dance to the chorus. It’s just… okay, maybe not the best song ever, but one of the greatest song Kpop industry made. I like the MV (not love) because of the way they play with the black and white theme, it really suits the song well.

Here’s the playlist :

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So, what do you think about this Top 10? Did I forgot a song that undoubtfully needed to be in it? Let me know in the comment section.

The two new songs are OST, one from Master’s Sun and the other from Good Doctor. Both dramas seem bleh, both songs are.

The Cure, from the latest Drunken Tiger album, is really really good. I’m totally into it lately, everything is just perfect. I’ve listen to the other song that has been release from this album, and there’s too much autotune for my taste, but this one is just awesome all together.

I still don’t get why some songs are still on the chart, go down, and then go up (like Gummy’s and Lee Seung Chul’s songs for example).

Stupid In Love is fine, I’m not really into it though. I’m really happy that Crooked went up that much, I’m really digging this song.

Don’t get why APink is still so up and the same for all those ballady OST stuff (or any song that sound like them). DAMN YOU OST! But I do love some of them, sometimes.

I didn’t wrapped my mind around Had Enough Parties yet. I don’t really get the French part in the MV (even though it’s my native language). I think they tried to do something like the old French movies, but not really also. It’s like a mix of old French movie feel with a bit of philosophic crap that come from nowhere. The song is fine, but I’m not sure yet if I love it, like it or don’t mind it. I’ll have to listen to it a little more.

I have to say I really hate it when a new album comes out and they just splatter the song throughout the chart. I find that terribly stupid and pointless.

About all the new song of G-Dragon : I hated Coup D’Etat. The MV is great though, the scene are pretty and stuff. But the song feels like a mashup of a few verse of older G-Dragon’s songs and it has nothing that stand out on its own. It’s just really bleh. The only phrase I find myself repeating sometime is “This is my coup d’état”, but mainly when I’m angry at the stupid shit the government is doing. Crooked is good. The MV’s alright, but I wanted more since the last one was so intense but had such a “meh” song. I’ve listened to the other songs that are on the chart this week, and most of them are either alright or good. R.O.D. is a bit boring though. If he release another MV for this album, I hope it would be either Who You? or Black. The song with Missy Elliott is kinda boring too… But I think they might jump on the idea of doing a MV with a USA has-been, sooo yeah, I sure hope not.

The JYP song is good, though do not stand out that much.

Gummi’s song is not new, it was there in the chat of week 4 of august. It’s still an OST song, nothing has change about that.

I really like the new KARA song. It’s great, the MV is alright. I like KARA even though they aren’t as popular as some other girls group. They usually release pretty good song and this one is exactly this. It’s growing more and more on me.

At first, I wasn’t sure about Navi’s I Ain’t Going Home Tonight. I thought it was kinda tacky or something. But when I don’t look at the MV, I like the mood of the song. So I think this will also grow on me.

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So that’s about it. I might expend this website to other stuff pretty soon, maybe talk a bit about my input on some korean gossip or stuff like that. Since I’ve started 2 others website about korean stuff (link on the sidebar or on the header part), I might use this website to put lighter stuff that take less of my time to write and orchestrate. I’ll see about that.